40 Things You Should Give Up… Today!

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It’s Lent and Lent is always a great time to give something up that’s a problem in your life.

This year however I thought I’d try something a little different.

Instead of giving up things like chocolate, wine, candy or silly tangible things, I chose a few things you should give up that well …let’s just say are truly worth giving up

1. Give up trying to be someone you’re not. One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier smarter, younger, or more successful but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.

2. Give up holding grudges. Holding a grudge robs us of our peace, energy and love. We become prisoners of our anger and our worst experiences. Instead allow forgiveness which lets in peace, energy and love back into our lives.

3. Give up lying. “If you don’t want to slip up tomorrow, speak the truth today.” ? Bruce Lee. Honesty is still the best policy.

5. Give up being ungrateful. No matter how good or bad you have it, be thankful for each day of your life. There are so many others that are far less fortunate than you.

6. Give up the ‘easy street’ mentality. Don’t fall into the trap of looking for a ‘quick fix’. No amount of magic fairy dust replaces diligent, focused, hard work.

7. Give up being discouraged. Always look for the silver lining.

8. Give up idle gossip. Instead look for the good in others and of the world and make that your topic of conversation.

9. Give up anger. Feast on Patience and compassion for others and yourself.

10. Give up trying to be everything to everyone. You ABSOLUTELY cannot make everyone happy, so stop trying. Make just one someone happy and revel in the joy of that.

11. Give up trying to be perfect. The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done.

12. Give up being shy. Get out and make new friends. Introduce yourself. Network more.

13. Give up blaming others for your troubles. The extent to which you can live your dream life depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.

14. Give up comparing yourself to others. No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.

15. Give up waiting to do what you have always wanted to. Knowledge and intelligence are wasted without action.

17. Give up being stingy with what you have. Remember the song “You only get what you give“? It’s true! Share your wealth, your time and your treasure. Giving and doing for others is always so much more rewarding.

18. Give up thinking you’re not ready. No one ever feels 100% ready when opportunity knocks. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.

19. Give up running from your problems. No, it won’t be easy. We’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. That’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. So face them and fix them.

20. Give up trying to do everything by yourself. You are the sum of the people you spend the most time with. If you work together, you will be far more capable and powerful than you ever could have been alone.

22. Give up trying to live up to the expectations of others. Work on it for real and exceed your own expectations. Everything else will fall into place.

23 Give up avoiding change. However good or bad a situation is now, it will change. That’s the one thing you can count on. So embrace change and realize that change happens for a reason. It won’t always be easy or obvious at first, but in the end it will be worth it.

24. Give up waiting until the last minute. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

25. Give up being a couch potato. Get out and move. Take a long walk or do a few jumping jacks. You’ll feel better, be healthier and think a lot clearer.

26. Give up overeating. Eat to live, don’t live to eat.

27. Give up relationships with people who bring you down. Saying “no” to right people gives you the time and resources required to say “yes” to right opportunities. Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and like minded.

28. Give up worrying about what others think of you. Unless you’re trying to make a great first impression, don’t let the opinions of others stand in your way. What they think and say about you isn’t important. What is important is how you feel about yourself.

29. Give up spending your life in work you’re not passionate about. Life is too short . Find work you love doing.

30. Give up trying to control everything. Life is an unpredictable phenomenon. No matter how good or bad things seem right now, we can never be 100% certain what will happen next. So do you best with what’s in front of you and leave the rest to the powers above you.

31. Give up multi-tasking. Do one thing at a time. This is the best way to do things right the first time.

32. Give up thinking others are luckier than you. The harder you work, the luckier you will become.

33.Give up the noise and confusion now and then. Find time to be alone and reflect on the silence or prayer.

34. Give up making emotional decisions. Don’t let your emotions trump your intelligence. Slow down and think things through before you make any life-changing decisions.

35.Give up focusing on what you don’t want to happen. Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.

36. Give up wishing for things you don’t have. Appreciate everything you do have. Many people have far less.

37. Give up worrying about making mistakes. Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing.

38. Give up trying to fit in. Don’t mold yourself into someone you’re not. Be yourself. Oftentimes, the only reason they want you to fit in is that once you do they can ignore you and go about their business.

39. Give up avoiding risk. Everything has risk. Without it there’s no success.

40. Give up being cynical. Cynicism is an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity and leads to discouragement, gossip, harshness towards others, conspiracy theories and destroys relationships

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did Many of these I found in lists around the web. I have no idea where they originated but I loved them!

I’m so glad to be back and I’m super happy you stopped by Always a pleasure, and I’m happy you enjoyed the post. It makes you think about a lot of the things we could do to improve ourselves. I have a long way to go, LOL!

Hi Liz
Well, I am glad you made it back from your sabbatical!
I’m thinking there’s no telling all the good stuff you have in there, just waiting to get out now?
I think I’ve either given up, or had torn from my grasp, everything but my hair, and I’m holding on to that…………
And what is this you’re using for comments these days?

Hey Liz,
When I got your mail a few minutes ago, I remembered you have been away. Welcome back and thanks for pieces of advice. If we all could give up half of these things, then live will be more wonderful.

Thank you very much for this awesome list… In fact what you have told here, it is NOT new things, we all knew about these… But unfortunately most of us do NOT remember these points when time demands to do so…

Great reminder…

But, I have some problem in excepting Point # 36 “Give up wishing for things you don’t have”…

It is just my personal opinion that you should always wish for the things you do NOT have, as it works as a motivation to work hard and harder.

Hey Karmakar, I DO remember you You have an awesome SEO site that I haven’t been back to in awhile, to my shame because you have such great information there. Any it’s doubly bad for me because I’m such an SEO enthusiast. It’s always great taking a break but I have so much to catch up on.

You’re right about #36 and maybe I didn’t clarify that quite right. Wishing is a form of motivation and it’s not necessarily a bad thing until it becomes directed towards wishes that keep us from having gratitude.

For example, I sometimes catch myself wishing for things others have like a better car or a bigger house or things that really don’t matter, it’s sort of a jealously thing. I should step back and appreciate what I do have, and perhaps realize that it’s not the bigger house or the better car or more money that make us better people, it’s appreciating what we do have and sharing it with others who are more in need that’s truly important.

So great of you to stop by Karmakar and look forward to visits with you at your site.

Great post Liz! I’m happy to have you back! I missed your emails but I know you’ve been very busy with the new grand baby and we all sure need a little time away here and there to rejuvenate. I’m going to add a link to your site, Homenotion, to my Favorite Books, Blogs, and Videos page at my site. You have so much to share! Thanks again and welcome back! Peggy

These are all great tips, Liz. I’ve found the one about “resentments” to be one of the most damaging, character defects one can have. Resentments are so destructive to people’s lives. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize they are even harboring one or more.

Good post – it covered more than just the basic steps to self-improvement.

Holding resentments, grudges or not being able to forgive someone is one of the things we do a lot of and it IS damaging. Who really suffers when you can’t forgive? You do. These are such wasted emotions. There isn’t anyone that I can’t forgive and there isn’t anyone I hold a grudge against. I may not always trust them but I can forgive anyone and I do.

I don’t practice lent and I’m kind of glad I don’t. It would be hard to give up things I love but for that occasion I’m sure I’d survive.

I think that’s a much better list to come up with then like you said foods we love and stuff like that. We can always do better and be better so I agree with you about some of these things that I think most of us need to work on.

Way to go and thanks for sharing these. Hope things are going well for you now and we’ll be into a new week before you know it.

I do practice Lent because it represents a time where I can focus on my spirituality. I love that because it uplifts me so much.

Giving up things shouldn’t be for the sake of giving up things. It’s about making a sacrifice for the Lord which helps remind us the sacrifices God has made for us. But sacrifices should also be things that help us become better people. Giving up coffee, chocolate or some treat we love doesn’t really fit that purpose. I always thought it was sort of silly actually. People really miss the point of the exercise.

Anyway, I’m glad you liked the list and I hope it makes folks think about what’s really important when it comes to giving things up.

My beliefs and principles have changed over the years…I love science, I am a man of science, but I like to believe in a God (maybe because I was brought up like that…or maybe because I like the hope God gives me….when it times of danger, praying helps me to calm my mind).

That being said, I don’t practice Lent (well, not the traditional way). I no longer believe that giving up things like sugar…meat or anything for that matter makes much difference. If we want real change…we have to try and become a better person (I think that’s the whole point of Lent? Become a better person, both spiritually and physically).

Great list you got here, Liz. I am good in some of these points, some of the others are work in progress (like making emotional decisions..and learning to control my emotions), but there are few that needs to be addressed.

God and my spirituality are important to me as well. I was brought up in faith but I’ve also seen where my faith has improved my life.

And you are so right. Giving up things that don’t contribute to becoming a better person is a waste to me. If we’re going to make a sacrifice it should be to help improve ourselves and of course most improvements are a work in progress like you said, but they are worth the effort.

I’m glad I finally made it here. Sorry, I’ll try to be more consistent now

Those are really great tips. I think my favorite was “stop being shy” because maybe some people who are shy think that’s easier said than done, and in a way it is.

But in my coaching practice I have a trick to help my shy clients to get rid of they shy shell. This exercise involves seen themselves in a different way. Shy people “see” themselves shy, so I try to help them to “see” a different person, instead. It’s an exercise that works!

About multi-tasking, it is said that multi- tasking is an illusion anyway, as we can fully concentrate on one thing at the time only.

Hey Sylviane, I will look for your trick on shyness. I could probably use a few of them myself

That’s interesting about multi-tasking. When you think about it, it’s probably true that we really only can do one thing at a time. Multi-tasking just means we do each thing a lot faster in order to accommodate lots of things at once. Depending on the individual doing things too fast without the proper focus often means not doing it so well. At least that’s true for me.

Very valuable pieces knitted together, though I follow some of these and I really enjoy the benefit. I am sure if one follows these religiously, I am sure that make the person a perfect one.
Though it’s a bit difficult process to follow all, I am again sure that will make a great change or impact in that individual’s life. Thank you so much for providing such a lot of valuable give ups for your readers. Though I do not follow or believe in such practices (lent etc) in Christian religion, I am a firm follower of Jesus Christ. That itself make one to give up so many things mentioned here. Yes, a believer in Christ should give up so many things in life for the benefit of others as well, but due to our negligence we do not do many a times.
Thanks for reminding us about these valuable facts. I am here a new person, I like the way in which you presented the posts here, will come back again to read more. Hope you will visit my new space.
Keep informed
Best Regards
~ Philip

Welcome Philip, nice to have you here. In Lent we practice sacrifice and many times people like to sacrifice silly things like giving up chocolate, candy, coffee or little things they enjoy in life. Sacrifice often brings us closer to Jesus as he made the ultimate sacrifice. But for me if I’m going to give up something why not give up something that will make you a better person, hence this list

But regardless of your faith these are all good things to practice, and they are things I always strive for.

Thanks for being here Philip and I hope you’ll stop back again. Great to meet you

Hi Liz,
Thanks a lot for the quick reply and for the valuable visit to my space.
Yes, no doubt the given list/points here are worth practicing and in the
long run it brings great benefits. Thanks again for the great reminder.
Let us strive to practice it.
Good wishes.
Have a good day.

Hi Liz,
Its really good to be here,
I am here via one of my blog friends’ page.
Very valuable pieces knitted together here.
Though I follow some of these and I really enjoy the benefit. I am sure if one follows these religiously, I am sure that make the person a perfect one.
Though it’s a bit difficult process to follow all, I am again sure that will make a great change or impact in that individual’s life. Thank you so much for providing such a lot of valuable give ups for your readers. Though I do not follow or believe in such practices (lent etc) in Christian religion, I am a firm follower of Jesus Christ. That itself make one to give up so many things mentioned here. Yes, a believer in Christ should give up so many things in life for the benefit of others as well, but due to our negligence we do not do many a times.
Thanks for reminding us about these valuable facts. I am here a new person, I like the way in which you presented the posts here, will come back again to read more. Hope you will visit my new space.
Keep informed
Best Regards
~ Philip